“It’s not a favour mark. It’s the mark of mates. Soo Jin is your mate.”

Yoongi froze, his phone still held against his ear. “Mates?” he said, barely daring to believe his own ears. “Yeah. Like I said, it’s quite uncommon for it to happen between a demon and a human, but it does happen. I have a friend, Jackson, it happened to him.” He said as Yoongi’s eyes landed on the bathroom door that separated him and Soo Jin.

“So she's my mate?” he repeated, each time the thought settling in a little more. “Yeah, it also explains why your mark has been making you feel strange and not her. Although she's your mate, because she's human she won't feel anything. But your mark is in tune with your demon side and your emotions. Whenever you feel a strong emotion relating to her, it will react. There's also a chance that her feelings will be linked to the mark as well. I've just emailed you some files that have all the info that you’ll need.” Yoongi took a couple of deep breaths and pushed his hair back with his hand. “Thanks.” He said, still in shock from the news.

They ended their call and Yoongi went to his bedroom and brought his laptop out into the living room. He quickly pulled up the email that Namjoon had sent him. The first file had a photograph with an old drawing of his mark, an upside down triangle with a line crossing through near the pointed end. He read through the paragraph underneath the photograph.

Earth Symbol

The corners of Yoongi’s mouth twitched upwards. “Well I am an earth demon.” He muttered as he continued reading.

Earth personalities tend to be calm, hardworking, practical, wise, stable and patient; however, they have a tendency to be stubborn and possessive.

An imagine of Jungkook and Soo Jin flashed before his eyes and he almost growled. “I am not possessive.” He muttered as he opened the next file. This time the photograph was of the mark on Soo Jin’s wrist. The difference between his and hers was that her triangle was around the other way, still with the line crossing through it near the pointed end.

Air Symbol

Air personalities tend to kind, communicative, intellectual and social; however, they can often be selfish and superficial.

He quickly opened the next file, this time revealing a hexagram. “What the hell?” he muttered as he quickly started reading.

The shape is generally understood to consist of two triangles—one pointed up and the other down—locked in harmonious embrace. The two components symbolize man's position between earth and sky. The downward triangle symbolizes the sacred embodiment of femininity, and the upward triangle symbolizes the focused aspects of masculinity. The mystical union of the two triangles represents Creation, occurring through the divine union of male and female.

“There's no way…” he examined the photographs of both their marks, disbelief settling over him as he realised that their marks perfectly made up a hexagram, which apparently represented the union of male and female. He clicked on the last file, unsure what he was going to find. He scoffed out loud when he read the top of the page.

 Love compatibility

Despite his laugh, he continued reading.

Earth and Air aren’t often paired together.

Yoongi nodded, just like how demons and humans weren’t often marked with mate marks, their meanings and elements were uncommonly mixed as well.

Earth may feel relief from being lifted up by Air’s ideas and free thinking. Air may offer new ways of thinking to Earth. Earth tends to be the dream to reality maker for Air, offering them practical solutions to their dreams to make them come true.

Earth and Air combinations work well when both partners are prepared to be a team and work together, despite their differences.

The bathroom door opened and Yoongi slammed his laptop shut, not wanting to let Soo Jin see what she had been reading. She laughed at him, “If you don’t want me to see your then don’t watch it in the living room.” She teased as she made her way to her bedroom. “I’m not watching !” he yelled at her as he hesitantly opened his laptop once again once her bedroom door closed.

He looked through each of the files again, chewing on his lip as his mind raced. He'd never considered the thought of having a mate before. Not every demon had one, in fact more demons didn’t have one, and to have one with a human? His eyes darted to her bedroom door. He sighed and flopped back in his chair. He thought back to the first time they had met and all of their interactions since then. He thought back to each time his mark had bothered him, and Namjoon's words rang in his ears.

“Whenever you feel a strong emotion relating to her, it will react.”

Right after they had met and had gotten their marks, his mark had bothered him, the more he thought about it, had he been missing her from even that short encounter? He had been impatient for her to call him, but he had blamed it on wanting to return the favour, but could the truth be that from then, his subconscious was telling him that he needed to have her in his life?

When she had turned up at the club, so exhausted that she had passed out on his shoulder… his mark had flared up when he had watched her trying to give it her all on stage, even when it was clear to see that she was beyond exhausted.

When he had stayed in her room when they had visited her hometown. He had barely been able to sleep because of the mark. Had it reacted to him being so close her? He remembered looking at her as she slept, the gentle light from her lamp illuminating her face.

He shook his head. “What the hell am I thinking?” he muttered as he shut down his laptop, carelessly putting it onto the table in front of him, his mind reeling from the information he had just received.

Soo Jin came out of her room, fully dressed, her hair still wet from her shower. “I thought you were going to shower?” she asked as she passed by him, the smell of her shampoo and shower gel washing over him. “I’m going now.” He said a little gruffly as he jumped to his feet and rushed towards the bathroom. Soo Jin gave the bathroom door a curious look because of Yoongi's sudden departure. She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge before returning to her bedroom to finish getting ready.

Yoongi stood under the warm stream of water, his thoughts all over the place. “We’re mates…” he said to himself, the words still tasting strange on his tongue. “How the hell am I supposed to tell her something like that? She’ll think I'm crazy.” He said to himself, his hand slapping against the tiled wall in frustration. “This is so ed up.” he muttered. A small part of him already knew what his feelings towards Soo Jin were, but he had pushed that part of himself down, telling himself that he had only kept in contact with her because of the favour contract that he believed had occurred between them. But now, there was unmistakable proof to show that his feelings for her were much more than that.

The mark wouldn’t determine his feelings, it was his feelings that determined the mark. Not one to believe in love at first sight, Yoongi had always been a little sceptical of the whole paradigm of mates, but now that it was happening to him… it was a little harder to refute.

He knew that he cared for Soo Jin… and not in a strictly platonic way. She was fiery, independent and strong,  just like him and that drew him to her. But she was also kind, funny and there was a vulnerable side to her that made him want to wrap his arms around her and protect her from every bad thing in the world.

He cursed loudly as he started massaging shampoo into his scalp with way more force than was necessary. “How the am I meant to explain all this to her?” he grumbled. “Oh hey, so guess what? You're my mate and we’re meant to be together?” he said mockingly. He laughed at his own words. “She’d have me committed.” He mumbled as a thought struck him. “She’d probably leave if I told her that.” He said his hands falling to rest by his sides, water relentlessly raining down on top of him. “If I tell her something like that she’ll probably move out and she might quit working at the club.” A sudden thought hit him like a ton of bricks.

“I might never see her again.”